Firstly, some background knowledge for those may not know what a Mary Sue is: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue
I was discussing The Hunger Games trilogy the other night with my friend, and that I dislike the book because the character is a Mary Sue. My friend pointed out that a Mary Sue as a character is not necessarily bad, and it got me wondering in what kinds of works a Sue is tolerable. Personally, I came up with these situations:
- A work where the Sue is NOT the main character. This kind of work would be boring because conflicts always get resolved easily and with no lasting consequences. A positive example would be as a foil for the main character in a work where the author is making an argument or deconstructing the tropes of a genre.
- A work where the world itself is so strange and bizarre, that the Mary Sue-ishness of a main character is fitting with the setting. The world is is so out of line with reality, that it makes some twisted sense that the Sue can be so perfect and admirable. Works like these tend to be short as to not outstay its welcome, or eventually be forced to develop it's characters such that the main character loses his/her Sue-ishness. For this reason I found the first Hunger Games book to be tolerable. The setting was fascinating and outlandish enough that Katniss' Sue-ishness did not interfere much with my enjoyment, but as the series wore on it became much more frustrating for me.
Are there any other settings where a Mary Sue is okay? Do you agree or disagree with my points above?
